Here is the scenario:

Purchased 20+ acres with 1,800 sqft house in great condition just 10 days ago.

Received a call that a rail company wants to purchase my property after seven days of ownership.

20+ acres were surveyed out of a larger 85+ acre tract that owners want to sell to us when we are ready. All items aside, these people are honest and are protecting us from being surrounded by the rail yard. No worries on their intentions.

Realtor that contacted me has tried to put both of us against each other by telling each of us the other had agreed to sale.

My original response was they could agree to twice our purchase price ($300k * 2 = $600k). He played the game a little more and put some outright lies out there to make me believe this rail project was a done deal (there is a 180 acre tract to the north that may be under a feasibility period but no contract).

This guy showed his hand and it is imperative they have both pieces from us to have the project work.

We like the property a lot. We have spent nearly a year getting to this place in our lives. Don't want to move again, yada, yada, yada. But if the price is right, I could buy a place that has everything we have right now and possibly more. The $600k may not work for that because we want to stay in the area and no much is available.

So what would you price it at?

I'm not much help but couldn't the rail company eventually use eminent domain? I found this article from four years ago, https://www.texastribune.org/2014/09/04/mumford-asks-officials-stop-union-pacific-railroad/

Brazos hump yard near Hearne?

Start at 1.5 and walk away from anything less than 1million

Not the Brazos yard. A private company wanting to build along a BNSF line in Madison county. I don't think they will have eminent domain ability.

$1.5 mill sounds real good. I like my sunsets and we have really gotten to like this place in such a short time.

Spoony Love said:

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Here is the scenario:

Purchased 20+ acres with 1,800 sqft house in great condition just 10 days ago.

Received a call that a rail company wants to purchase my property after seven days of ownership.

20+ acres were surveyed out of a larger 85+ acre tract that owners want to sell to us when we are ready. All items aside, these people are honest and are protecting us from being surrounded by the rail yard. No worries on their intentions.

Realtor that contacted me has tried to put both of us against each other by telling each of us the other had agreed to sale.

My original response was they could agree to twice our purchase price ($300k * 2 = $600k). He played the game a little more and put some outright lies out there to make me believe this rail project was a done deal (there is a 180 acre tract to the north that may be under a feasibility period but no contract).

This guy showed his hand and it is imperative they have both pieces from us to have the project work.

We like the property a lot. We have spent nearly a year getting to this place in our lives. Don't want to move again, yada, yada, yada. But if the price is right, I could buy a place that has everything we have right now and possibly more. The $600k may not work for that because we want to stay in the area and no much is available.

So what would you price it at?

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Remember 2 things:

1. You are more married to your property than the neighbors since you want to buy it all one day and they want to sell it... and you've named a price to move.

2. Intentions and actions are very different things.

Tread carefully... you don't hold the leverage you think you do.

Spoony Love said:

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Here is the scenario:

Purchased 20+ acres with 1,800 sqft house in great condition just 10 days ago.

Received a call that a rail company wants to purchase my property after seven days of ownership.

20+ acres were surveyed out of a larger 85+ acre tract that owners want to sell to us when we are ready. All items aside, these people are honest and are protecting us from being surrounded by the rail yard. No worries on their intentions.

Realtor that contacted me has tried to put both of us against each other by telling each of us the other had agreed to sale.

My original response was they could agree to twice our purchase price ($300k * 2 = $600k). He played the game a little more and put some outright lies out there to make me believe this rail project was a done deal (there is a 180 acre tract to the north that may be under a feasibility period but no contract).

This guy showed his hand and it is imperative they have both pieces from us to have the project work.

We like the property a lot. We have spent nearly a year getting to this place in our lives. Don't want to move again, yada, yada, yada. But if the price is right, I could buy a place that has everything we have right now and possibly more. The $600k may not work for that because we want to stay in the area and no much is available.

So what would you price it at?

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So first off, congratulations on lucking into this. Secondly, I would try to see if there is any real estate lawyers who are versed in railroad takeovers. Get their opinion. It might cost 500-1000 to get all the info out of them, but if you're talking about about a valuation between 300-1 mil here. Their input is peanuts comparatively. Tread lightly though, if you ask for too much, that rail yard might figure out a way to do without your land and now you've got a railroad junction in your backyard.

Finally, I would say to eventually sell to the railroad. The upsides are too lucrative, and the downsides if you don't sell are the ever increasing threat of eminent domain + headaches of a close rail line.

With doubling or tripling your money you can definitely find the acreage you want still in the same area.

one MEEN Ag said:

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Spoony Love said:

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Here is the scenario:

Purchased 20+ acres with 1,800 sqft house in great condition just 10 days ago.

Received a call that a rail company wants to purchase my property after seven days of ownership.

20+ acres were surveyed out of a larger 85+ acre tract that owners want to sell to us when we are ready. All items aside, these people are honest and are protecting us from being surrounded by the rail yard. No worries on their intentions.

Realtor that contacted me has tried to put both of us against each other by telling each of us the other had agreed to sale.

My original response was they could agree to twice our purchase price ($300k * 2 = $600k). He played the game a little more and put some outright lies out there to make me believe this rail project was a done deal (there is a 180 acre tract to the north that may be under a feasibility period but no contract).

This guy showed his hand and it is imperative they have both pieces from us to have the project work.

We like the property a lot. We have spent nearly a year getting to this place in our lives. Don't want to move again, yada, yada, yada. But if the price is right, I could buy a place that has everything we have right now and possibly more. The $600k may not work for that because we want to stay in the area and no much is available.

So what would you price it at?

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So first off, congratulations on lucking into this. Secondly, I would try to see if there is any real estate lawyers who are versed in railroad takeovers. Get their opinion. It might cost 500-1000 to get all the info out of them, but if you're talking about about a valuation between 300-1 mil here. Their input is peanuts comparatively. Tread lightly though, if you ask for too much, that rail yard might figure out a way to do without your land and now you've got a railroad junction in your backyard.

Finally, I would say to eventually sell to the railroad. The upsides are too lucrative, and the downsides if you don't sell are the ever increasing threat of eminent domain + headaches of a close rail line.

With doubling or tripling your money you can definitely find the acreage you want still in the same area.

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Well said. Never assume they can't re-engineer the project without your land. And if you know the neighbor wants to sell, even if they are nice people, you were willing to sell at double the market value of the land them being nice be damned... there is an inflection point probably less than the double you asked for where they pull the trigger.

You are dealing with way more downside than you are signaling in your OP. Like... enough downside that I wouldn't necessarily see this as a 'lucky break'.

All of these items have certainly been considered. The realtor we used to purchase the place is now in place to sell in case it comes to that. Luckily, she also knows an attorney who is experienced with these types of situations. Looking at the location of our property and knowing the desires of the other owners, the rail yard has to have our property to have enough length to pull a train in. The other owners do not want to sell. They have had the property for several decades now and have turned down similar offers in the past (just learned that). But they are old and we are talking the possibility of enough money to really be a game changer for their kids and grand kids and they would get to see that before passing. To find what we have right now and stay in the same school district, it is going to involve lots of money. It would require either money whipping someone who isn't selling, find an older family on property that are thinking about selling, or purchasing an existing listing (which all are listed higher than we purchased by a a significant amount).

Certainly treading carefully and trying to hold off. We really like this place and considered it out of the numerous listings and little towns we visited.

Did I miss something.....

Can you buy the entirety of the remaining land and sell the entire lot to the RR?

Wouldn't do that to the people who sold us our piece. They sold the acreage and house to us that was part of a larger piece. We own 20+ acres bordered on the south by FM road, to the west is the rail line, north and east bordered by the rest of the acreage our sellers own.

During negotiations, they repeatedly mentioned how they were happy to sell to a family raising kids on the property and wanted us to buy the rest. I just didn't have the cash or monthly income to purchase the rest but really want to. After learning about previous offers though, I wonder how long the rail company is going to hold off before moving further. These people have been nothing but honest and decent, just the kind of people you can trust with property purchases. They don't need the money but their kids may want to enjoy it while the parents are still alive.

I'm thinking we invite them over for dinner and discuss possibly selling our pieces together. Agree on percentage of total price for each of us and a price that will make both sides comfortable for a long time. Our decision to sale is going to disrupt many others peace out there. Granted a train runs through the area but that is very different than a rail yard. It's just so beautiful. A sunrise and sunset that is always pretty and relaxing. That is very hard to buy in the area. Not impossible just very expensive.

Spoony Love said:

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Wouldn't do that to the people who sold us our piece. They sold the acreage and house to us that was part of a larger piece. We own 20+ acres bordered on the south by FM road, to the west is the rail line, north and east bordered by the rest of the acreage our sellers own.

During negotiations, they repeatedly mentioned how they were happy to sell to a family raising kids on the property and wanted us to buy the rest. I just didn't have the cash or monthly income to purchase the rest but really want to. After learning about previous offers though, I wonder how long the rail company is going to hold off before moving further. These people have been nothing but honest and decent, just the kind of people you can trust with property purchases. They don't need the money but their kids may want to enjoy it while the parents are still alive.

I'm thinking we invite them over for dinner and discuss possibly selling our pieces together. Agree on percentage of total price for each of us and a price that will make both sides comfortable for a long time. Our decision to sale is going to disrupt many others peace out there. Granted a train runs through the area but that is very different than a rail yard. It's just so beautiful. A sunrise and sunset that is always pretty and relaxing. That is very hard to buy in the area. Not impossible just very expensive.

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Overall, your best bet is to ensure that you and the other owners are on the same page at all times. Make coordinated moves together. Figure out to sell or not and at what price you'd sell at. Let the rail co. come back to you.

But my two cents is that I would do whatever it took to keep from selling and to keep from having the rail yard in the backyard. But if the latter ends up happening, I'd sell and then move somewhere else. Don't want to be by a rail yard.

Spoony Love said:

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Wouldn't do that to the people who sold us our piece. They sold the acreage and house to us that was part of a larger piece. We own 20+ acres bordered on the south by FM road, to the west is the rail line, north and east bordered by the rest of the acreage our sellers own.

During negotiations, they repeatedly mentioned how they were happy to sell to a family raising kids on the property and wanted us to buy the rest. I just didn't have the cash or monthly income to purchase the rest but really want to. After learning about previous offers though, I wonder how long the rail company is going to hold off before moving further. These people have been nothing but honest and decent, just the kind of people you can trust with property purchases. They don't need the money but their kids may want to enjoy it while the parents are still alive.

I'm thinking we invite them over for dinner and discuss possibly selling our pieces together. Agree on percentage of total price for each of us and a price that will make both sides comfortable for a long time. Our decision to sale is going to disrupt many others peace out there. Granted a train runs through the area but that is very different than a rail yard. It's just so beautiful. A sunrise and sunset that is always pretty and relaxing. That is very hard to buy in the area. Not impossible just very expensive.

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My second question is how did you manage to sniff out the land and get them to sell part of it to you? I am asking because I would like to raise my kids on a nice plot of land and the listings are quite expensive. Granted, I am a few years out from being able to purchase, but it'd be nice to know if I should start knocking on doors inquiring on large plot owners.

In full disclosure, we got very lucky. We had been watching listings in areas for a little while and this one had been listed all together for what was a good price but just way out of our budget.

These owners eventually listed it as two separate pieces with acreage a little more than we were looking for but a price we could afford. They were flexible on how much they would sell with the property so we asked them for what we wanted and they agreed.

It is becoming apparent that we got an amazing deal on the purchase and still close enough to B/CS for us to work at our newly found jobs.

I'm not sure where you stand on belief in God, but we are long time Christ followers. We prayed a long time for this. God knew where our heart was on this and He helped us find an older couple selling that holds similar beliefs. They are great people and I want to do right by them and the gift we have been given. Now the blessing may be that the two of us can come out financially set for a good while, but that has yet to be determined.

I don't want to be in the way of economic progress but we just moved here, 11 days ago.

THIS

Quote:

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Somebody in their land acquisition group probably got fired last week.

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1 mil+

Recently bought something similar in same price range. This is a good problem to have.